Stagdrift Hills County
Stagdrift Hills is a holding of House Selwyth in the Duchy of Andras, which is located in the northern are of the Southwest Region of Swynfaredia.
The area is known primarily for it's mineral and secondarily for it's somewhat disreputable locals.
Demographics
The area does not produce enough food to feed all their mining staff. Many of their miners are migratory farmers. During planting and harvest, they work on their farmers, but outside these times they work the mines.
So the area imports both food and farmers.
Since the areas depends on mining so much, a lot of the population is transitory. They have a mining season which sees workers move in and agricultural season where the mines slow down (but rarely stop altogether).
The high number of miners also skews the local population towards younger adult males which leads to a lot of brothels. The presence of lots of brothels plus House Selwyth's lax morality and love of intrigue means the area sees a fair few Swynfaredian mafia types congregating in the area.
The region has some kobold miners in addition to human miners. With the war on, House Selwyth has reluctantly increased the number of kobold guest workers here.
Government
Stagdrift Hills County is a hereditary holding of House Selwyth currently controlled by a relatively young count.
The count is not the cleverest or most experienced dragonblood in Swynfaredia, but he is wise enough to know what he knows and knows what he does not. He relies heavily on advisors and hirelings who he treats with respect and pays well.
House Selwyth cultivates a laissez faire attitude towards law and order. Scoundrels and ne'er-do-wells are tolerated as long as trouble makers don't disrupt the profitable operation of the local mines.
Industry & Trade
The area boasts a very productive coal mine, a moderately productive tin mine, and a mostly spent iron mine. If the Selwyths are hiding something here, the logical hiding place is the iron mine. There are a lot of mineshafts that are used anymore, and the other two mines have more miners that spot something odd.""The main industry here is mining. The has enough farmland to mostly meet their domestic needs. Some foodstuffs are imported to feed the miners. They don't use slave miners here. Most of the workers are human or kobold workers. The workers are paid well and treated fairly. The Selwyths pay various theurgists to provide Purification magic to try to keep miners from dying of black lung.
Points of interest
The three mines are points of interest. Each mine has an associated village and baronal castle.
The iron mine village has about 100 people living their full time. The tin mine has about 300 people living there full time, and the coal mine has roughly 500 people living their full time. The villages double in size at the peak of mining season as part-time miners move in.
There are a couple other farming villages and other small settlements scattered about.
The Town of Ironcliff
There is a walled town of a couple thousand people roughly equidistant from the three mines. The county seat is located here. When Ironcliff was founded, the iron mine was more productive and important. Ironically, the area sometimes imports iron to feed the steel industry here. Ore is taken to town, refined, and either crafted into goods or processed into ingots and sold that way. A lot of metal workers of various stripes live and work here. Also the town acts a logistical hub for coordinating mine workers and also mines the miners by providing various "services", both mundane and clandestine. Very few respectable dwarves are willing to work for House Selwyth in the mines, but they are less hard nosed about smithing for them. Ironcliff has a small contingent of resident alien Stahlheimer dwarves. Most of the bronze workers live in and work in other places, so the tin is mostly processed into ingots and shipped elsewhere.
Type
National Territory
Location under
Owning Organization
Related Reports (Primary)
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